


New Case, New Dangers

by completelyhopeless



Series: Detective Grayson and Forensic Batgirl Case Two [1]
Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Case Fic, Comment Fic, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 07:06:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3281318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyhopeless/pseuds/completelyhopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Grayson has a new case, and he needs forensic tech Barbara Gordon's help with it, but that's nothing new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Case, New Dangers

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: _[DCU, CSI!Babs/cop!Dick, "Looks like a long night."](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/75615.html?thread=17531231)_
> 
> I was going to use that prompt for the first case, but it never felt right. It did feel right to make it the start of his new case, though.

* * *

Barbara didn't know of many people who stumbled into her lab. She figured there were two kinds of them, the ones that fell because they were too scared to cross the doorway and Dick Grayson. She wasn't sure which one was more annoying. She'd figured the Batgirl rumors and myth would die down after her father took back his job as commissioner, but they'd just added a new dimension to it, since now she was even more untouchable than before—she was the commissioner's daughter again. Still, there was one person who was willing to cross that line.

When he fell over it, though, she had a _different_ reason for being annoyed.

“You're hurt again, aren't you?”

“What gave it away? The lack of grace? I knew I should have gone back for those gymnastics classes,” Dick said, setting down a bag full of the worst take-out in Gotham on the counter. She eyed it, thinking of the calories and how bad she knew that was, but she was starving and it was another guilty pleasure of hers.

So was Dick, for that matter.

“Like you need classes. You're still an expert even if you haven't performed in years,” she said, snatching her fries from him before he could eat them all. “What did you do this time?”

He leaned back against the counter, sucking on his soda before setting it aside. “Made the mistake of trying to teach Damian that there's value to American sports. It did not go well.”

She tried not to choke on her laughter. She could see that going so many different ways, and she felt bad for both of them—Damian because all he knew of life before Dick saved him and earned a blood debt was killing and Dick because he had earned that debt and felt he was responsible for the boy when he had too much going on in his own life to fix anyone else's.

“You're laughing. I thought you'd be angry with him for hurting me and I'd have to go into another one of those _he's not really a bad kid_ speeches,” Dick said, taking his sandwich out of the bag. “I'm actually kind of offended. I thought you liked me better than that, Babs.”

“I do,” she agreed, though she was sick of constantly reminding herself why liking him as much as she did was a bad idea. He was dangerous in all the wrong ways—cute, charming, a good man and a good cop—the kind of man that made a girl want the impossible, the fairy tale. She knew he was too screwed up for that—they both were—and she couldn't depend on him to be the voice of reason here.

“Anyway, it wasn't Damian, though I know I will regret trying to teach him sports for probably the rest of my life,” Dick mused, looking down at his sandwich. He let out a breath. “He's too competitive. It's not a good sign. He took a simple game and almost turned it into a death match.”

“You survived, though,” she said, looking Dick over again. She couldn't see an obvious sign of injury, but that didn't mean much with him. He hid injuries like a pro.

“That was just the opening course, I guess,” he said, setting his sandwich aside. “Since I've been on shift, I've made four arrests—all of them decided to resist, which was fun—and then I was almost off when I got the call for the one that brought me down to see you.”

She looked at the sandwich and back at him. “That bad, was it?”

He grimaced. “You know, with all I've seen, nothing should be able to turn my stomach again, but this one came close.”

“Was it because of a memory?”

“Not this time,” Dick said. He grimaced. “Not everything is a trigger for me, and if I let it be, I may as well give up living. No, this was different. Like I said, I've seen a lot of things. This one was worse than most.”

Barbara let out a breath. “I'm not going to like this, am I?”

“You have a lot of forensics to process,” he agreed. “It's going to be a long night.”

“It almost always is.”

“At least you get my company, right?”

She eyed him doubtfully. “Is that supposed to be a perk?”

“I can make it one,” he said, grinning at her, and she had to dodge out of his reach when he tried to grab for her. She wasn't sure if he planned to kiss her or give her a massage, but she knew better than to let him do either of those things.

He was way too good at them.

* * *

“One of these days, you'll have to teach me how you do that,” Dick said, looking over at Barbara, and she frowned at him. He smiled. “Don't worry. I'll leave all the forensics to you. I meant the whole typing thing. I know _how_ to do it, and I'm not bad at it, but your speed puts mine to shame. It's taken me all night to type up my interview notes and in the meantime, you've done half a dozen tests and put in notes for all of them.”

“That is what I do,” she said with a tired smile. “And I'm the best at what I do.”

“Can't argue with that,” he told her, and she gave him another one of her _don't flirt with me_ looks. He was getting tired of that look. He knew he didn't have the best of track records, and she'd seen him at his worst—flashbacks and seemingly suicidal tendencies all at once—but she was putting more effort into saying no and pushing him away than it would take to make things work between the two of them, and he couldn't figure out why.

“You should go home, Dick,” she said, touching his arm. “There's no reason why you need to be here for the other tests, and the paperwork could have waited. You can get a fresh start on your new interviews in the morning.”

He snorted. “You could try harder.”

“Excuse me?”

“That is nothing close to convincing,” he told her. “Come on, you know me. I don't sleep. There's no point in going home, and this isn't about being fresh for an interview or waiting for tests. This is about you thinking I have to go because you're afraid of being alone with me. If you were scared of the supposed assassin training I have, I'd be more okay with it than you being afraid of commitment.”

“I am not afraid of commitment.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I'd find that more convincing if you weren't pushing me away in the middle of a case. You know there's no point in me interviewing anyone until I have those results. I go in blind, I won't ask what I need to ask, and by the time I go back, they'll be gone because I'll have spooked them. I work Crime Alley, remember?”

She rolled her eyes. “You think I could forget? You almost died there.”

“I have Crime Alley because no other cop wants it. Because your father trusts me with it. Because I grew up near there. Because I know it well,” Dick said. “I know better than to go in there without what I need to ask the right questions. Instinct only takes you so far down there. People there know how to disappear. I don't need my witnesses vanishing on me again.”

She frowned. “None of this said anything about a witness. Unless—you're basing that on the fibers near the window?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “And I think it was a kid who saw it. So you have to give me an answer before I'm going anywhere.”

She closed her eyes, pinching her nose. “Dick—”

“I don't think this is some kid with assassin training like Jason or Damian,” he said, leaving himself out of it. “I just think this was some poor kid in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“And?”

Damn her for knowing him too well. He sighed. “And I'm really hoping it was not Tim.”


End file.
